KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes dismisses the notion that switching schools for the first time in nearly two decades has given him a chip on his shoulder or provided any extra incentive.

Barnes, 61, makes his Tennessee debut Friday against UNC Asheville after spending the last 17 seasons at Texas.

“The fact is I don’t feel any different now than I felt the last 10 or 12 years as a head coach,” Barnes said. “I know it’s our first game coming up here and I don’t take any of them for granted. I just know we still have a lot of teaching and work to do with these guys.”

Barnes led Texas to 16 NCAA tournament berths, including a Final Four appearance in 2003, and regional finals in 2006 and 2008. He owns 604 career wins in 28 seasons overall, with stops at George Mason, Providence and Clemson before his Texas tenure. His teams earned NCAA bids 19 of the last 20 seasons.

Texas fired him in March after a seventh consecutive season in which the Longhorns failed to reach a regional semifinal.

“Do I personally think it could have been handled better in light of what I know he did at the University of Texas?” said Tennessee associate head coach Rob Lanier, who held the same position on Barnes’ Texas staff. “Absolutely. A lot of other people feel that way – a lot of important people. But he’s beyond that. Maybe when he was younger, he’d have a chip on his shoulder right now about that. I don’t think he’s caught up in that stuff one bit.”

Barnes can’t afford to look back, considering the situation he faces right now as Tennessee’s third head coach in three seasons. Barnes replaces Donnie Tyndall, who was fired in March amid an NCAA investigation into his two-year tenure at Southern Mississippi.